I don't know whether they're literal gypsies, but they certainly seem to be. Come Winter, caravans of huge RV's with whole kumpania's worth of furniture and odds-and-ends strapped to the exteriors under blue tarps rolled in. They had wires running from the passenger compartment to the driver's window, they were painted in garish themes. Some had wooden doors and screen doors, like your Grandma's back porch, on the back of the RV. Others were painted to look like stonework. All of them had roiling clouds of ganga emerging from them, and thoroughly disreputable looking characters hovering around the caravans. These are not the romantic sort of disreputable folks, by the way - none of the beautifullly beatdown Bukowskis or Keruoacs; not even amiable rogues or happy wanderers. No, these were some pretty spooky lookin' drifters. Still, no harm done ... except that the most precious resource in Venice is parking, and these damn gypsies would park in the best spots (the ones that don't make you move at certain hours of the day) and leave their RV's there for months on end, taking up several spots in a row, each.

But Spring has sprung, and many of them have rolled out to other pastures, though none are greener. But just as one gypsy tide rolls out, another rolls in. This time though, they have arrived individually. And rather than being in RV's, this lot are in individual vehicles, like VW buses (a popular model) and other smaller rolling domiciles. There's just as much, if not more, rick-rack strapped to the rooves, but at least these ones only take up one spot at a time. Just in time for the summer crush and impossible parking situation!